Gully Boy

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Gully Boy
Theatrical release poster
Directed byZoya Akhtar
Written byStory and Screenplay:
Reema Kagti
Zoya Akhtar
Dialogues:
Vijay Maurya
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJay Oza
Edited byNitin Baid
Music bySongs:
See soundtrack
Score:
Karsh Kale
The Salvage Audio Collective
Production
companies
Distributed byCinestaan AA Distributors
Release dates
  • 9 February 2019 (2019-02-09) (Berlin)[1]
  • 14 February 2019 (2019-02-14) (India)[2]
Running time
153 minutes[3]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget60–70 crore[4][5]
Box officeest. 238.16 crore[6]

Gully Boy is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar, and written by Akhtar and Reema Kagti. The film was produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar under the banners of Tiger Baby Films and Excel Entertainment productions, with American rapper Nas as an executive producer. It stars Ranveer Singh in the title role alongside Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Varma, Amruta Subhash and Vijay Raaz in supporting roles. Inspired by the lives of Indian street rappers DIVINE and Naezy,[7] the film is a coming-of-age story about aspiring street rapper Murad Ahmed (Singh), from the Dharavi slums of Mumbai.

eighth-highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.[8]

Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, the most awards for a single film in a year, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Singh) and Best Actress (Bhatt). It also became the sixth film to win all 4 major awards at the Filmfare Awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress), after Guide (1965), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Devdas (2002) and Black (2005). Internationally, it won the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea. It was also selected as the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Plot

Murad Ahmed, a final year college student, lives in the

rap
music. His longtime and overly possessive girlfriend Safeena Firdausi is training to be a surgeon and routinely meets him in secret.

Forced to work part-time as a chauffeur after Aftab is injured, Murad starts to write; his lyrics are informed by the inequalities he observes while on the job. He befriends local rapper Shrikant "MC Sher" Bhosle, whom he sees performing in his college fest. MC Sher invites him to perform at underground shows and rap battles, eventually collaborating with him for a rap video on YouTube.

Berklee College student Shweta "Sky" Mehta, a record producer, reaches out to Murad and Sher after seeing the video, offering to collaborate on a new song. The accompanying video, which is shot in Dharavi, rapidly becomes popular. Murad and Sky grow close and eventually have sex, which Murad keeps from Safeena. When Safeena finds out, she reacts violently towards Sky by smashing a bottle of beer on her head. As a result, she is brought in by the police but is not arrested as Sky doesn't press charges against her. Murad eventually breaks up with Safeena due to her possessive nature. As Aftab's violence towards him, his brother, Suhail, and his mother, Razia, escalates, Murad decides to leave home with Razia and Suhail and work full-time for his maternal uncle Ateeq Khan.

Later, when Sky expresses her romantic feelings for him, Murad declines her advances as he still loves Safeena and decides to reconcile with her. Murad and Sher enter a contest to open for Nas at his Mumbai concert, and Murad advances to the finals after a successful rap battle. His confidence having improved from the appreciation he receives from fans, Murad finally stands up to Aftab and Ateeq when they belittle his passion. He later gets back together with Safeena. He goes on to win the contest and becomes one of India's top rappers. The film ends with his friends, family and Safeena watching him happily as he begins his triumphant opening performance.

Cast

  • Ranveer Singh as Murad Ahmed a.k.a. Gully Boy
  • Alia Bhatt as Safeena Firdausi, Murad's possessive girlfriend
  • Siddhant Chaturvedi as Shrikant Bhosle a.k.a. MC Sher
  • Vijay Raaz as Aftab Shakir Ahmed, Murad’s father
  • Vijay Varma as Moeen Arif
  • Amruta Subhash as Razia Ahmed, Murad’s mother
  • Ikhlaque Khan
    as Nasir Firdausi, Safeena's father
  • Sheeba Chaddha as Hamida Firdausi, Safeena's mother
  • Kalki Koechlin as Shweta Mehta a.k.a. Sky
  • Ayaan Zubair Rahmani as Safeena's brother
  • Rahul Piske as Chintoo
  • Jyoti Subhash as Dadi
  • Nakul Roshan Sahdev as Salman
  • Shruti Chauhan as Maya
  • Vijay Maurya as Ateeq Khan, Murad's uncle
  • Srishti Shrivastava as Albina Dadarkar
  • Mallika Singh as Suhani, Safeena's best friend
  • Tina Bhatia as Parveen
  • Rahil Gilani as Rishi
  • Svar Kamble as Suhail
  • Chaitnya Sharma as MC Checkmate
  • Jasleen Royal as Juhi
  • Michaela Tanwar as Gemma
  • Kubra Sait
    as Scarlett
  • Shah Rule as himself
  • Sambhav Jain as Bandra Boy[9]
  • Manj Musik as rap battle judge
  • Omi Kashyap as Driver
  • Raja Kumari as rap battle judge
  • Bobby Friction as rap battle judge
  • DIVINE as himself
  • Emiway Bantai as himself
  • KR$NA
    as himself
  • Brodha V as himself
  • Rohit Sangwan as Editor
  • Rahul Bose as a backseat passenger (uncredited cameo)

Production

Akhtar co-opted the story of two Mumbai based MCs, Naezy and DIVINE, into a musical story portraying a struggle of an aspiring rapper and his surroundings that influence his journey.[10] Principal photography of the film began on 10 February 2018[11] and it was wrapped up by April 2018.[12] American rapper Nas was an executive producer for the film.[13][14]

Soundtrack